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Late season break unified us - RSL's Borchers

Real Salt Lake defender Nat Borchers has put their brilliant MLS Championship win down a late season break that brought the club closer.

An odd 17-day break late in the piece helped the Royals regroup and tinker with a few things that eventually saw them go onto clinch the MLS Cup despite holding on to a slight play-off chance at the end of the regular season.

RSL notched up two late wins to qualify for the play-offs and then managed to defeat reigning champions Columbus Crew and Chicago Fire before accounting for the highly fancied LA Galaxy on the final and Borchers believes it was that break that helped the players and coaches so much.

"That break we took in October was crucial to our run," newly crowned champion Borchers told Soccer365. "We came together as a group after the coaching staff challenged us to be better.

"We also switched formations from a 4-3-3 to a 4-4-2. I think this change was also really important to our offensive style and possession of the ball. It seemed like the break and the formation change gave us a ton of confidence moving forward!

"I think that the solidarity of the team was the most memorable (thing) from MLS Cup," he declared. "We had no doubt that we would win, even after the first goal L.A. scored against us.

"I also loved the way the RSL fans came together in Seattle to support us," added Borchers. "They were absolutely everywhere in Seattle!

"For every one L.A. Galaxy fan, there were four RSL fans. They really energized us and celebrating with them after the game was sweet."

About the author

Andrew Slevison is an avid sports fan, particularly of the world game. The Melbourne, Australia native, who has spent time living in London and travelling South America, takes a keen interest in the English Premier League and Major League Soccer and rates his best live footballing moment as the 2014 World Cup final in Brazil.